I am amazed by the number of times I hear the words of my mother and father… sometimes even their German proverbs. Obviously, they captured some wisdom that left its mark on me. When I think of this I also think of the Vincentian “sayings” I have absorbed over the 60 years of living as a Vincentian. “Leaving God for God”, “Let us love God but let it be by the sweat of our brows and the strength of our arms”, always come to mind.

If we stop and think about it I suspect most of us could come up with a list of wisdom sayings. When I was still actively involved developing a wiki ambitiously called the Vincentian Encyclopedia I asked a number of Vincentian leaders to share the wisdom sayings that influenced them.  We were blessed to have contributions from people such as former Superiors General Fr. Robert Maloney, CM, Fr. Richard McCullen, CM,  as well as Sr. Betty Ann McNeil, DC and Regina Bechtle, SC, etc.

The intent of this initiative was not simply gathering the widest range of quotations but to see which sayings have impacted us. [Update: Fr. Aidan Rooney is stepping in to make adding quotes with a minimum of effort. Send your quotes to him at fatherr@famvin.org.] Eventually, the project will be moved here: http://vincentians.com/en/quotes-collection/

Let’s share our collective wisdom.